International Round Table on Polychromy in Ancient Sculpture and Architecture

"Investigating Organic Colorants Across Time: Interdisciplinary Insights into the use of Madder, Indigo/Woad, and Weld in Historical Written Sources, Archaeological Textiles, and Ancient Polychromy"

Paula Nabais, Cecilie Brøns, and Magdalena M. Wozniak

In Textile Crossroads: Exploring European Clothing, Identity, and Culture across Millennia. Anthology of COST Action “CA 19131 – EuroWeb”. Kerstin Droß-Krüpe, Louise Quillien, & Kalliope Sarri, Editors. Zea Books, Lincoln, Nebraska, 2024. DOI:

Read more here: https://doi.org/10.32873/unl.dc.zea.1806

Published online - 09/07/2024.

"Digital methods and techniques for reconstructing and visualizing ancient 3D polychromy – An overview"

Eliana Siotto and Paolo Cignoni

Journal of Cultural Heritage, 2024, 68, 59-85.

Read more here: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.culher.2024.05.002

Published online - 04/06/2024.

"Polychroma: The Meaning of Colours in Roman Sculptures"

directed by Elisabetta Neri

Published by Silvana Editoriale

Long ignored, sometimes knowingly since the idea of its presence went against the ideals of a white and pure ancient sculpture spread after Winckelmann, the polychromy of classical and late sculptures and architecture has been the subject of important research programs for thirty years. Within this field of study, the book focuses on the specific characteristics of Roman imperial polychromy and its late developments (first century BC – sixth century AD) to question the technical features and the socio-cultural meaning of colours.
After an assessment of the studies on polychromy already carried out, this book presents the results of the EU-MSCA-IF PolyCHRoMA project, which documented traces of colours not immediately visible (lost colours) through the physico-chemical analysis on a corpus of sculptural and architectural elements from some major European and North African
museums (Musées royaux de Belgique, Palazzo Reale in Milan, Museo Nazionale in Ravenna, Musée de l’Arles antique, Musée Saint-Raymond de Toulouse, Bardo National Museum and various Tunisian collections). The systematic chronological and contextual study of these traces, before time ensures the loss of colours definitive, confirms that polychromy offers a new source for studying the cultural meaning of colour at the turn of the first millennium.

See a preview here.

More details here.

Published - 15/10/2024.

"La pierre, la couleur et la restauration: Le portail polychromé de la cathédrale d'Angers (XIIe-XXIe siècle). Contribution à l'étude des portails médiévaux en France et en Europe"

Bénédicte Fillion-Braguet, Nathalie Le Luel, Clémentine Mathurin and Marc Le Bourhis

Designed in the middle of the 12th century and a reference of early Gothic art, the portal of the Saint-Maurice Cathedral in Angers has sculpted and painted decoration which bears witness to the strong influence of the Royal Portal of Chartres.

In 2009, the cleaning of the portal confirmed the importance of the remains of polychromy of the portal made illegible by dirt and pollution. From 2009 to 2019, studies and then a restoration provided a lot of new data allowing a better understanding of the original decoration campaign and the general repainting of the 17th century.

More details here.

Published - 06/06/24.

Archaeology of Colour Technical Art History Studies in Greek and Roman Painting and Polychromy (Meletemata 87)

Edited by Hariclia Brecoulaki

Published by National Hellenic Research Foundation.

Ancient polychromy speaks a language of “the visible” and “the invisible”, through signs of pigments, brushstrokes and forms. Another reminder of our classical past, colour is an inherent component of artistic creation, inspiration and imagination. New sophisticated technologies, as well as the development of interdisciplinary studies over these past decades, have stimulated the collection and evaluation of numerous scientific data from in-situ investigation of polychrome and painted documents, and have challenged our understanding of the complexity and function of ancient painting materials and techniques. The present volume is another contribution to the ongoing exploration of the rich history of colour in the classical world; an exploration which builds on previous knowledge and opens up new horizons for a more extended understanding of the aesthetics and meaning of Greek and Roman art. It includes fifteen papers that move from Archaic and Classical Greece to the Hellenistic and Roman periods, and deal with colour on monumental architecture, marble statues and reliefs, wooden and terracotta statuettes, stone sarcophagi, paintings on stone and plaster, and pigments as raw materials.

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More details here.

Published - 06/24.

"Senses, Cognition, and Ritual Experience in the Roman World"

Blanka Misic, Abigail Graham (Editors)

Published by Cambridge University Press

How do the senses shape the way we perceive, understand, and remember ritual experiences? This book applies cognitive and sensory approaches to Roman rituals, reconnecting readers with religious experiences as members of an embodied audience. These approaches allow us to move beyond the literate elites to examine broader audiences of diverse individuals, who experienced rituals as participants and/or performers. Case studies of ritual experiences from a variety of places, spaces, and contexts across the Roman world, including polytheistic and Christian rituals, state rituals, private rituals, performances, and processions, demonstrate the dynamic and broad-scale application that cognitive approaches offer for ancient religion, paving the way for future interdisciplinary engagement.

More details here.

Published -25/01/24.

"Color and Meaning in the Art of Achaemenid Persia"

Alexander Nagel

Published by Cambridge University Press

This volume investigates the use of polychromy in the art and architecture of ancient Iran. Focusing on Persepolis, the topic is explored within the context of the modern historiography of Achaemenid art and the scientific investigation of a range of works and monuments in Iran and in museums around the world. Nagel's study contextualizes scholarly efforts to retrieve aspects of ancient polychromies in Western Asia and interrogates current debates about the contemporary use of color in the architecture and sculpture in the ancient Mediterranean world, especially in North Africa and the eastern Mediterranean.

More details here.

Published -14/09/23.